Introduction to Programming Using Python

Introduction to Programming Using Python is intended for use in the introduction to programming course.

Daniel Liang is known for his “fundamentals-first” approach to teaching programming concepts and techniques. “Fundamentals-first” means that students learn fundamental programming concepts like selection statements, loops and functions, before moving into defining classes. Students learn basic logic and programming concepts before moving into object-oriented programming and GUI programming.

Another aspect of Introduction to Programming Using Python is that in addition to the typical programming examples that feature games and some math, Liang gives an example or two early in the chapter that uses a simple graphic to engage the students. Rather than asking them to average 10 numbers together, they learn the concepts in the context of a fun example that generates something visually interesting.
Fundamentals-first approach introduces basic programming concepts and techniques on selections, loops, functions, before writing custom classes. Liang introduces and uses objects in Chapter 3, but defining custom classes is covered later in Chapter 7.
Problem-driven approach teaches programming in a problem-driven way that focuses on problem solving rather than syntax. Liang captures students’ interest by using interesting examples in a broad context (areas include math, science, business, financials, gaming, animation and multimedia). Appropriate syntax and libraries are introduced in order to solve the problems.
Flexible GUI Coverage gives instructors the flexibility to skip graphics topics or cover these topics later in the course. The book use Python’s built-in Turtle graphics module in Chapters 1-6 and Tkinter in the rest of the book. Both Turtle and Tkinter are simple, easy to learn and valuable pedagogical tools for teaching the fundamentals of programming and object-oriented programming. GUI Examples are offered early in every chapter and a special set of GUI exercises appears at the end of every chapter.
Based on Python 3.
Student Resource Website www.cs.armstrong.edu/liang/py contains the following resources:
Answers to review questions
Solutions to even-numbered programming exercises
Source code for the examples in the book
Interactive Self-Test (organized by sections for each chapter)
Supplements on using Python IDEs, advanced topics, etc.
Resource links
Errata
Instructor Resource Website, accessible from www.cs.armstrong.edu/liang/py

Table of Contents

contains:
Chapter 1 Introduction to Computers, Programs and Python
Chapter 2 Elementary Programming
Chapter 3 Introduction to Functions, Strings and Objects
Chapter 4 Selections
Chapter 5 Loops
Chapter 6 Functions
Chapter 7 Object-Oriented Programming
Chapter 8 Thinking in Objects
Chapter 9 GUI Programming Using Tkinter
Chapter 10 Lists
Chapter 11 Multi-dimensional Lists
Chapter 12 Inheritance and Polymorphism
Chapter 13 Files and Exception Handling
Chapter 14 Tuples, Sets and Dictionaries
Chapter 15 Recursion

Chapters 16-23 are bonus Web chapters on DS
Chapter 16 Developing Efficient Algorithms
Chapter 17 Sorting
Chapter 18 Linked Lists, Stacks, Queues and Priority Queues
Chapter 19 Binary Search Trees
Chapter 20 AVL Trees
Chapter 21 Hashing
Chapter 22 Graphs and Applications
Chapter 23 Weighted Graphs and Applications